"Prashanth Ponnachath was, like yoga, born in India, but the software engineer never bothered with the ancient art until he moved to the United States and found it offered for free four times a week by his employer.Now he's a big fan. A year into the practice, Ponnachath says that Siebel Systems Inc.'s classes help him gain mental clarity and reduce the stress caused by staring at a computer all day in a hyper-competitive field. He has also noticed that his chronic allergies have abated -- and his wife likes him more.

"I'm a happier person, whereas I used to be stressed, with my mind chattering all of the time," Ponnachath said. "Yoga teaches you to breathe right. Stress is all mental, and when you get stressed you breathe very shallow, but if you control your breath, you can control your mind and body."

Bending over backwardsDespite general expense cutting and layoffs, yoga is on the rise. More than 15 million practiced it in the U.S. in 2001, double the number doing it in 1996. One of the places it's found greatest growth is in the workplace. It's cheap, requiring little equipment besides an instructor and a few enthusiastic employees. Five percent of companies provide yoga in the workplace, according to yogaforbusiness.com's CEO and Bruce Van Horn, author of the book "Yoga for Men."

Dublin-based Siebel has provided yoga to employees like Ponnachath for nearly five years, and other companies large and small are finding a way to squeeze yoga into limited budgets for its employees. It's a stress reducer, it may lower health care costs, and it's a cheap way to fill a gym that was built as a part of those corporate campus-type buildings.

Rudholm notes a growth in the number of yoga studios in Berkeley, an increase in private instruction and more corporate work as indicators of yoga's benefits.

Among those bending over to let their employees stretch are San Ramon-based ChevronTexaco, San Rafael-based Industrial Light and Magic, Cupertino-based Apple Computers, the San Ramon office of Toyota of America, Emeryville-based caterer Paula LeDuc and the blue-collar sales and delivery office of Hayward-based Airport Appliances.

"Other than the standard reasons that employers do anything for their employees, it's selfish," says Don Van Eeghen of Airport Appliances, whose $15 million company began paying for twice-weekly yoga sessions three months ago. "The healthier our employees are in mind and body, the better off we are for the portion of their life that they give to the workplace."

Van Eeghen, a 60-year-old self-described "type A" personality, doesn't look forward to the yoga, but 10 minutes into the session, he feels grateful; after an hour, he could do another 8-hour shift. At Airport, the group does sessions in one of the remodeled kitchen display showrooms, occasionally with shoppers still in the store. "We get some interesting comments, but they're all positive," said Van Eeghen.

A new positionMore than stretching out the kinks in one's body and untying the stressful knots in the neck, there is something to be said for having everyone put on their sweats.

Steven LaFrance began building LaFrance Associates in December 2000, and includes weekly yoga classes, spending about $1,000 a month to keep its 10 employees stretching toward goals and balancing work and life.

"I held yoga as a personal goal, both for physical work and for team-building," said LaFrance. "I needed to find a way to balance stress and include the physical activity."

His interest in having classes in a convenient space, say yoga instructors, is how a lot of workplace yoga practitioners get their exposure. Since starting the free classes for his employees, more than half attend the classes, and most have noticed definite benefits in both work and life.

The company, which has done research assessments for The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Delancey Street Foundation and the city of San Francisco, is on track to book $1.5 million in revenue this year. A big workload and a small staff often cause high tension. Yoga, says LaFrance, has helped.

"We drop the roles and it allows us to see each other outside our work relationships," said LaFrance. "This increases the communication and sense of community."

Yoga in fact helped set the tone for LaFrance Associates, which he formed with several former colleagues from another consulting firm. Some were concerned that the flavor of their former employer's work environment would take root in the new company.

So far it has not.

And it's a tone that a number of employees have continued after their initial exposure to yoga. Not only is their boss providing a free yoga class , but he's in there stretching as well, putting his knees on his elbows to stretch for "the crow" position or sitting lotus in his socks. "Participating in something other than work helps," said LaFrance. "The yoga is a constant, we root for each other to achieve their individual goals here."

Brendan Doherty covers biotechnology for the San Francisco Business Times."

Improve your digestion using yoga! My Grandmother used to say that 'good bowels and a good disposition go hand in hand'; turns out- it's true!

For years I had trouble mustering the happiness I knew my life deserved, until I cleaned up my diet, and started doing yoga regularly!

During this journey Dr Jason Hughes told me, "Over 80% of your body's Serotonin is produced in the Small Intestine. This cannot happen if the small intestine is inflamed."

As the old wisdom knew, great digestion enables great happiness!

So, if your gut is inflamed through poor elimination, IBS, food sensitivities, or a highly-stressed state, not only are you more at risk for colon-cancer from this inflammation, but your body won't be able to produce enough serotonin for you to experience joy regularly in life! So how do we create happiness naturally from within? Decrease inflammation through Diet, Yoga, and Breath!

This pursuit of joy, of health, and of personal empowerment through healthy digestion is what encouraged me to create a DVD that you can take home and practice daily in your own cozy surroundings, on your schedule. Through this DVD you can promote a healthy digestive system by increasing circulation, decreasing inflammation, and creating a 'rest and digest', relaxed state for your nervous system in which your body can heal and feel joyful. Do all that you can for to encourage happiness that radiates from within!

I encourage you to come learn to breathe, twist, and relax for your best health and wellness.

So far we've seen some amazing results from these techniques in improving digestive flow, producing abundant energy, revitalizing skin, increasing circulation, and creating overall feelings of well-being. Come join me for a breath-focused Yoga for Digestive Health session, purchase the DVD, or pass along this information to someone you love who may benefit from learning to breathe for optimal health.

Warmly and with much love,-Sarah

(604)726-6967sarah@innertruthyoga.orgInner Truth Yoga- Inner truth yoga is a growing yoga and wellness company that was inspired by the journey into discovering joy within, and bringing it into life, one moment and one decision at a time. Thank you to the Executive Success Programs Community, and to Wanda Woods, for your incredible support in my own journey of personal growth and exploration. Your demonstrated commitment to building a more consistently ethical and compassionate world has been true motivation and has helped me in creating this, my own focus, and labour of love. From my inner truth to your inner health, -Sarah

Improve your digestion using yoga! Oxygen is free, it is abundant, and it is one of the most under-rated tools for creating vibrant health. Learn to use it! Here's why...

Because breath is the only system in our body that is both fully controllable, and fully automatic, by learning to work with our breath we can tap into the autonomic nervous system and affect our body's chemistry.

Dr Andrew Weil, MD, in his lecture "Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing" talks about the vast health improvements he's seen his patients go through when they incorporate simple breathing techniques, as little as 5 min/ day, into their daily routine. These included, weight control, improved circulation (no more cold hands!), relief from anxiety and depression, improvement in heart-irregularities including atrial fibrillation, reduction in digestive upset including bloating, constipation, and irritable bowel, cancer remissions, allergies, and a variety of other health-concerns large and small that dissipated over time with short but persistent use of breath-techniques.

By influencing our breath, we can affect our moods, digestion, immune system, hormones, and circulation. Ultimately, we can control our health with breath.

In yoga for better digestion we use yogic breath techniques and gentle postures to retrain your diaphragm and lungs to breath deeply and fully, relaxing your body, increasing oxygen, improving circulation, and putting your health back into your hands... and your lungs!

Our breath is indeed the master key to health.

I encourage you to come learn to breathe for your best health and wellness. So far we've seen some amazing results from these techniques in improving digestive flow, producing abundant energy, revitalizing skin, increasing circulation, and creating overall feelings of well-being. Come join me for a breath-focused Yoga for Digestive Health session, or pass along this information to someone you love who may benefit from learning to breathe for optimal health.

Digestion: the key to optimal health!Improve your digestion using yoga! Your digestive tract consists of a long tube from "mouth to out" making human beings essentially HOLLOW! Like a stuck garden-hose, if something's plugged or not functioning fully in your digestive tract, you're going to end up with problems! A combination of bloating, gas, brain fog, mood swings, digestive upset, low energy, depression, sluggish metabolism, acne, inefficient vitamin and mineral absorption, weight gain, GI conditions, and even a number of chronic diseases like diabetes, and heart disease can result from ineffective digestion. To top it off, the vast majority of your body's serotonin is produced in your small intestine. If it's inflamed, it's really hard to feel happy!

While each case has its individual cause and effect trail, the basic rules are:

1. If you're backed up or stressed, nutrients can't be absorbed (regardless of how many supplements you're taking!) 2. Without available nutrients your body cannot detoxify.3. With too many toxins, your liver gets overloaded.4. With an overloaded liver you can't digest properly and more toxicity is created.5. With high toxicity your body becomes more acidic.6. With high acidity your body becomes a breeding ground for disease L.

Healing Digestion is the First Step to Optimal Health!

This is why I have created Yoga for Digestive Health and Detoxification; a gentle one-on- one yoga practice that uses diet, breathwork, yogic twists, restorative yoga poses, and negative-ion and far-infrared to allow your body to return to optimal health!

*Hot-stone therapy and aromatherapy help you to relax and release.*Negative-ion heat alkalizes your body and creates detoxifying sweat. *Kind and approachable atmosphere helps you reach your health and wellness goals.

*Convenient location: Downtown Vancouver at Burrard and Robson.*Take home information and practices to empower your continued growth and wellness!

So far we've seen some amazing results from these techniques on improving digestive flow, energy levels, improving skin quality, increasing circulation, and on overall feelings of wellbeing. Come join me for a session, or pass along this information to someone you love who may be challenged by digestive unrest! (Yes! Classes are still happening during the Olympics!)

Inner Truth Yoga

Inner truth yoga is a growing yoga and wellness company that was inspired by the journey into discovering joy within, and bringing it into life, one moment and one decision at a time. We're committed to helping individuals relax into their lives and empower joy and health with every breath. We cultivate balanced potential in life using yoga in breath, movement, and relaxing stillness.